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General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Non thieves and Thieving Skills
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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 6635352" data-attributes="member: 4937"><p>I think officially, they just fail. I suppose you could do something like 1/2 the 1st level average score adjusted for racial and dex modifiers, but I don't think this is official. I do have the 2e thieves handbook at home though, so I'll take a look when I get the chance.</p><p></p><p>The failure to have a unified skill system was one of the biggest problems with 1e/2e, and if you play much you'll run into all sorts of attempts to fix this. One of the most common was to ad hoc a special set of rules for every room. Thus, if a room had a climbable wall or discernible trap, the room itself would explain how non-thieves interacted with the room. Every instance was treated as a special snowflake. Each cliff face got its own set of rules.</p><p></p><p>Another interpretation is that for normal situations, you as the DM should rule on the basis of what was reasonable and the thieves skills represented pseudo-magical ability to accomplish the impossible. Thus, anyone could hide behind a curtain, but a thief could also hide <em>in mere shadows</em>. Anyone could sneak about, but the thief had a chance to move in <em>perfect silence</em>. Anyone could climb a vertical surface that provided some handholds, but a thief could climb a <em>sheer</em> wall. And so forth. </p><p></p><p>But of course, none of this was very consistent.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 6635352, member: 4937"] I think officially, they just fail. I suppose you could do something like 1/2 the 1st level average score adjusted for racial and dex modifiers, but I don't think this is official. I do have the 2e thieves handbook at home though, so I'll take a look when I get the chance. The failure to have a unified skill system was one of the biggest problems with 1e/2e, and if you play much you'll run into all sorts of attempts to fix this. One of the most common was to ad hoc a special set of rules for every room. Thus, if a room had a climbable wall or discernible trap, the room itself would explain how non-thieves interacted with the room. Every instance was treated as a special snowflake. Each cliff face got its own set of rules. Another interpretation is that for normal situations, you as the DM should rule on the basis of what was reasonable and the thieves skills represented pseudo-magical ability to accomplish the impossible. Thus, anyone could hide behind a curtain, but a thief could also hide [I]in mere shadows[/I]. Anyone could sneak about, but the thief had a chance to move in [I]perfect silence[/I]. Anyone could climb a vertical surface that provided some handholds, but a thief could climb a [I]sheer[/I] wall. And so forth. But of course, none of this was very consistent. [/QUOTE]
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